Copyright 1994, Cyberspace Vanguard Magazine
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| C Y B E R S P A C E |
| V A N G U A R D |
| E X T R A |
| News and Views of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Universe |
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| cn577@cleveland.freenet.edu Cyberspace Vanguard@1:157/564 |
| PO Box 25704, Garfield Hts., OH 44125 USA |
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| TJ Goldstein, Editor Sarah Alexander, Administrator |
| tlg4@po.cwru.edu aa746@po.cwru.edu |
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April 23, 1994
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
--!1!-- (Short) Ravings of a Deranged Editor
--!2!-- Surviving: Jerry Doyle on BABYLON 5
--!3!-- The Monstrous World of Forrest J Ackerman
--!4!-- Administrivia
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--!1!-- (Short) Ravings of a Deranged Editor
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No, we haven't gone monthly.
So why are we here?
It's simple. The timing of life doesn't always tick conveniently, so
rather than publish this interview with Jerry Doyle a month after the
episode he talks about airs, we decided to do this extra. We've also got a
couple of other peices of "perishable" info. So please bear with us, and
enjoy. We'll be back in full at the end of May.
---- TJ Goldstein, Editor
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--!2!-- Surviving: Jerry Doyle on BABYLON 5
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by TJ Goldstein
On the outside, it doesn't look like security chief Michael Garibaldi
has too much in common with Jerry Doyle, the actor who plays him on BABYLON
5. Mr. Doyle has had acting success in a relatively short period of time,
is a hyper-busy person but thinks that "there's nothing better on a Sunday
than blowing off a day of your life watching football," has graduated from
flight school, has flown and sold business jets, and has spent nine years
as "one of those illustrious investment bankers" on Wall Street. "It seems
like we were acting then too. 'This is good for you, do it. Come on, it's
the best thing.'" Mr. Garibaldi, on the other hand, has a different
history.
"They've flawed him about as much as you can," Mr. Doyle told CV by
phone during a break in filming as the cast and crew finished up for the
season. "They've fired him three or four times. There's so many you can't
keep track. You'd think they'd *know.* He has relationship problems, he's
an alcoholic, always getting in fights, getting beat up, beating people up,
throwing stuff, he just tells everybody off, he's irreverent, cynical ...
you know, he's a very cool character to play. ... I didn't get a lot of the
backstory, like the relationships and the alcohol and all that. Just from
the writing style and the situations and the way that he reacted to them I
could see that he was kind of a twisted individual."
Now, as the first season wraps up filming, he doesn't know much more.
"I haven't read the bible, the 5 year plan, the arc for the show and the
characters. I like getting a new script every couple of weeks and kind of
seeing what's happening and going 'wow, that's cool, all right! That's
exciting.' So I just told the head writers, Joe Straczynski and Larry
Ditillio, that I love what they're doing with the character, no input from
me is required, just keep doing what you're doing. It's great, so why
change it?"
For many people, it was Garibaldi's checkered background that drew
them to the show in the very beginning, when series creator Straczynski
(pronounced Stra-ZIN-ski) was trying to drum up support and teasing
people with glimpses of things to come. Promises he made about
Garibaldi's past are kept in the upcoming episode called "Survivors."
"Well, pretty much by the title I think says a lot about the
character," Mr. Doyle says. "He's a survivor. Past life situations come
back to haunt him, and he's put in a situation of not only dealing with a
relationship -- not a love relationship, it's a past relationship with a
friend of mine's daughter whose father was killed in a tragic accident that
they blamed on me. And whether she believed it or not ... we had to
rectify that situation. Plus, you've got losing your job, getting
suspended, dealing with her, trying to convince people that you're not who
they say you are. It's basically about surviving this period when it all
seems to go wrong at once. It's a fairly physical script, there's a lot of
fights. I think I get the snot beat out of me ... one guy once, two guys
the next time, three guys the next time ... I feel like it's the World
Wrestling Federation. You're going in the ring and there's like 19 people
there. It's like the survivor series or something like that. I thought the
script was very good. I had a lot of fun shooting it with director Jim
Johnston. Hopefully my performance is equal to the script because I think
there was a lot of great stuff in there.
"I'm not sure he ever really changes," he says, referring to JMS's talk
of Garibaldi changing as a result of the experience, "but the character
tends to become more and more enlightened. And in some scripts he'll put
the wall up higher and higher and thicker and thicker and in others a brick
or two will come down, but Garibaldi tends to keep things and people and
situations at a distance and not let them get too close. It's a great way
to avoid being hurt. It's the old saying: would you rather hurt or be
hurt? Garibaldi tends to choose to hurt rather than be hurt. He's always
dancing, chucking, jiving, hey-hey-hey-hey-hey, but pretty much keeping
people and things at a distance." Of course, that's not to say that
Garibaldi never gets the girl. Later this season he'll have to deal with
past choices in the romance department when a past girlfriend is caught in
the flare-up of war on the Mars colony, trying to decide if he made the
right decision in leaving her to take his current position.
It's not all serious, however.
"Somebody asked me what acting was like compared to working on Wall
Street and I said this was like a 3 year vacation with a couple of rainy
days. This is just way more fun. You go in in the morning, somebody makes
you up, and does your hair, and feeds you. And I'm not making these words
up. Somebody tells me what to say, how to say it, where to stand, the
editors make you look good -- or as good as you possibly can, they tell you
what time to be back the next day, and they pay you. Not a bad gig. Plus
in this business if you're at a movie and you don't like what I do, I can
give you $7.50 and tell you to shut up. On Wall Street, I'm not givin' you
back 50 million dollars. Sorry. You're out of luck. Next!"
There is already a "gag reel" for the show, including an incident that
occurred during the episode "Parliament of Dreams," where Garibaldi is
supposed to search the quarters of Narn Ambassador G'Kar, played by Andreas
Katsulas, for evidence in a murder. He finds a pair of pink panties, and
when he asks G'Kar if they're his, the Ambassador tells him to get out. At
least, that's what finally made it to the small screen. Originally it went
a little differently. "I said 'Are these yours?' and he said 'No, your
momma's.' So I stretched them as far as I could and said 'No, THIS is more
like my momma's.' And then he said something back and then 'Oh, get out of
here.' So I said 'I would, but I'm feeling strangely stimulated.' So he
said 'Would you care to tango?' We have a lot of great moments that don't
hit the air."
So with situations that lend themselves to such silliness, how does he
get serious when he needs to? "Mmm ... I just think about getting fired,
and I'm right there. 'Time to do what we paid you to ...'"
Long before the show even hit the air, Joe Straczynski teased
net.users with the statement "Today was pajama day. Don't ask." It is
apparently not unusual for things ... out of the ordinary to go on.
"You have to have fun on the set. We're there 12, 14 hours a day,
sometimes it's hot, ticky-tack camera setups that take a long time, but when
you're spending that much time in one place with that many people, you have
to have fun. There's only so much you can talk about as it relates to the
show or acting, or whatever. So we try and make it as enjoyable an
experience as possible on the set and I think that that transforms itself
into what you see on screen. When everybody's loose and grooving and
having a good time hopefully it shows up on screen. Every Friday we have a
day where we do something silly, like 'Not matching shoe day' or 'Pajama
day' or 'Trashy lingerie day.' I think last Friday was 'Wear as many
pieces of clothing with shows that you've worked on before day.' So you
have the QUANTUM LEAP pants, and the MURDER SHE WROTE t-shirt, and the
crew jacket for MAGNUM on top of that, with the hat from SNEAKERS ...
it's the ultimate in logo display."
But "logo display" is not Jerry Doyle's thing. "What's the deal with
wearing everybody's name on the outside? I don't get it. They want you to
have a picture of the President for fifty bucks or a hundred bucks. And
I'm saying to myself, does he have a picture of me on his desk? Until he
does, I'm not interested in having him on MY desk." If you're beginning to
get the idea that he might be a little bit cynical, you're wrong. He's a
LOT cynical.
"I've met a lot of different people in a lot of different positions in
various companies, not only in this country, but around the world. And it's
amazing. They have an ability to shake your hand while they're sticking the
knife in your back at the same time. And they'll do it in such a nice way
that you smile while you're bleeding to death."
He coughs and lights up a cigarette. "You have to empower yourself.
Everybody lives under this thinking that there's a certain formula, or a
certain way of living that you have to live, a certain roadmap that you
have to follow, and I just don't buy into it. My dad was a cop, and he
died when he was forty-one and I was eleven. Now when you're eleven,
forty-one is ancient. But when you're thirty-seven, forty-one is around
the corner. And I decided when I go out, I'm going kicking and
screaming, doing exactly what I want to do, and my last check's gonna
bounce. That's the philosophy. That's what I've decided to do."
But while he talks tough, he's not unapproachable. Asked the reader-
submitted question "Is he aware that he will soon have droves of screaming
sci-fi geek-chicks running after him," he said "Cool. I look at it this
way. I came into this business because I wanted to. Nobody invited me.
No-one said, 'hey, we really want you to quit what you're doing and come to
LA and get on TV.' So what we do lends itself to introducing ourselves to
the public. And the public, they are the ones who keep the show on the
air."
But in a genre that has become lulled by the pacifist philosophy of
Gene Roddenberry's STAR TREK, B5 sometimes hits hard, causing some people
to accuse the show of appealing the the "lowest common denominator" in
television audiences.
"I've gotten feedback from doctors, and heads of corporations, and
brokers and traders, and truck drivers, engineers and computer guys that dig
the show. I don't think there's one constant demographic that this show is
in tune with... I think we've done a good job of addressing relationships,
the power structure, we can take a look at modern-day events and really put
things in a futurist tone. What do you do with career criminals? What do
you do with murderers? What's the penal system like, what's the medical
system like? Is there a welfare system? All these things come out in kind
of weird ways because looking at it from my standpoint, the world is just
as trashed in 2258 as it is today. You'd think we'd get something right.
I mean, we still eat meatloaf, which isn't a bad thing, but ... We still
have the same problems and situations, the same upheavals and backstabbing
and conniving and wheeling and dealing that you have today. We deal with
issues of prejudice. And now it's not necessarily Earther against Earther.
It's pro-Earth versus anti-Mars or things like that. In the year 2258
we're still pretty wacky."
His philosophy on the crux of the matter can probably be summed up
by an answer he once gave a convention-goer who asked him he if thought
science fiction fans were geeks. He pointed out that the chairman of
IBM can drive down the road at 2 a.m. on Halloween with an arrow through
his head and it's considered normal.
"Forget about it. Do what you want to do, and have fun with it.
That's what it's all about. If we have fun making it, and you have fun
watching it, then we all have fun, and what the hell else is there?"
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--!3!-- The Monstrous World of Forrest J Ackerman
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Some people are born to greatness, others thrust it upon the world.
Forry Ackerman is one of the latter. He's probably best known for his
creation of FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND, the long-running magazine of
fantasy/horror films, which ran for 190 issues before the publisher
disappeared. He's also the proud owner of what is probably the world's
largest movie memorabilia collection.
He's also a marvelous storyteller with a diverse repertoire that runs
from the very first World Science Fiction Convention -- "which is a pretty
big name for a pretty small turnout. There were only 185 of us, nobody came
from outside the Continental United States, and we had a banquet so
expensive that out of the 185 only 29 could afford it" -- to classic films
-- did you know that Fritz Lang shot 49 times as much footage for 1910's
METROPOLIS as ever hit the screen, and that he cut different versions for
each major city? -- to the fimmakers of today.
"I've just done my 46th cameo in a movie," he said in a phone interview
for Marcon, where he'll be a guest the weekend of May 13th through May 15th.
(Call (614) 451-3154 or 70004.1457@compuserve.com for more info.) "I've
been in seven of John Landis' films because when he was a 22 year old kid he
was given $60,000 by an uncle who said 'OK boy, go make a movie.' Then I
was invited to go see something called SCHLOCK, THE BANANA MONSTER and I had
to be up at 4 o'clock the next morning to fly away to Europe and I thought
'Gee, do I really need to roll in at 1 o'clock in the morning get 3 hours of
sleep to see something called 'Schlock'? The name John Landis was utterly
unknown back then and there was nobody in it of any consequence but I have
this reputation ever since I was five and a half in 1922 that I have seen
every fantastic movie possible and I thought gosh, I have to keep my
reputation intact so I went.
"Well I came out into the parking lot at around midnight and this lone
lanky figure came loping along, tapped me on the shoulder and said 'Mr
Ackerman?' and I said 'Well, it's too late to deny it now after about 60
years,' and he said 'There's only three people whose opinions I would value
about my movie: Orson Welles, Alfred Hitchcock, and yourself.' And I
thought, even if I'm low man on the totem pole, I'm pretty impressed. So I
looked at John Landis pretty severely and said 'Are you the one responsible
for that movie I just saw?' And he kind of backed away and said 'Yes, sir'
and I said 'Well, you'll hear from my lawyer on Monday.' And he got all
flustered and started stammering 'Why?' and I said 'Well, isn't it self
evident? Look at this suit! Down on the floor laughing! It's ruined!
You'll pay for this!' So he said 'Gee, you like my movie?' I thought it
was sensational. Well, on the basis of the preview he was given an extra
$10,000 to add some footage, so I did a little cameo for him, and about 13
years later he got me out of bed at half past midnight and brought me
downtown, introduced me to Michael Jackson, and stuck me directly behind him
in Michael Jackson's THRILLER. There I am, same red shirt, same bottomless
bag of popcorn, it was as if thirteen years later I'd never left the
theater, so engrossed in that monster movie ... So altogether John has put
me in seven of his films. The very latest is Beverly Hills Copy III. I'm a
teetotaller, but I'm sitting at a bar for 11 hours drinking brandy together
with Ray Harryhausen -- the brandy is apple juice -- and I got a great bride
for 11 hours but I had to give her back to Central Casting. We didn't even
have time to consummate our marriage. Didn't seem quite fair to me."
So while most people associate Forry Ackerman with movies, they don't
realize the part that he has played in the literature of the genre. They
may know he published Ray Bradbury's first story, and that Steven King sent
him his first story at the age of 14, but they don't know that after serving
in World War II he became a literary agent, earning only $50 for his first
year before signing the likes of A.E. Van Vogt and Charles Beaumont as
clients. Today he represents somewhere around 200 science fiction and
fantasy authors and marvels at the way the field has changed. ....
[Continued in Volume 2, Issue 3]
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--!4!-- Administrivia
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If you act fast, you can help to show your favorite Hollywood stars the
power of the net. The newly opened Los Angeles Free-Net will be presented
at a gala to honor acting teacher Sanford Meisner. Hollywood stars are
being given accounts so that they can send greetings to him, and will be
able to read your greetings. As of right now the complete list is not
available, but as it will be a large event, chances are that whoever you
want to reach will be there. Greetings to the stars can be sent to
xx998@lafn.org. All e-mail will be posted to a public newsgroup, and the
best messages will be printed out and hung from strings on a map of the
world to show where they came from. So please, especially if you're outside
the United States, take a couple of minutes to show those off the net that
we're out here. The demo will be held April 28th.
And last but not least, CV is looking for an archivist. We get hundreds of
kilobytes of information that we'd like to save each month, but lacking any
spare time at all, we need someone to organize it for us. The position is
an unpaid one (as are they all -- for the moment) but the person chosen will
have probably more information than they ever wanted to know about the genre
dumped into their lap without their having to look for it. If you're
interested in the position, please contact cn577@cleveland.freenet.edu.
--
CYBERSPACE VANGUARD MAGAZINE
News and Views from the Science Fiction Universe
TJ Goldstein, Editor | Send submissions, questions, comments to
tlg4@po.cwru.edu | cn577@cleveland.freenet.edu